Israeli forces and Hamas fighters held their fire on Nov 28, beyond the original deadline of a four-day truce, which had been extended at the last minute for at least two days to let more hostages go free.
With both sides expressing hope of further extensions, mediator Qatar hosted the spy chiefs from Israel’s Mossad and the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency at a meeting to “build on progress”, a source briefed on the visits told Reuters.
A single column of black smoke could be seen rising above the obliterated wasteland of the northern Gaza war zone from across the fence in Israel.
But there was no sign of jets in the sky, or any rumble of explosions.
Both sides reported some Israeli tank fire in the Sheikh Radwan district of Gaza City in the morning, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.
A spokesperson for the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said: “After suspects approached IDF troops, an IDF tank fired a warning shot.”
During the four-day truce, which began on Nov 24, Hamas released 50 Israeli women and children from among 240 hostages it captured on Oct 7.
In return, Israel released 150 Palestinians held in its prisons.
Hamas also separately released 19 foreign hostages, mainly Thai farm workers, under separate deals parallel to the truce agreement.
Israel has said the truce could extend indefinitely as long as Hamas continues to release at least 10 hostages per day.
But with fewer women and children left in captivity, keeping the guns quiet beyond Nov 29 could require negotiating the release of at least some Israeli men for the first time.
“We hope the (Israeli) Occupation abides (by the agreement) in the next two days because we are seeking a new agreement, besides women and children, whereby other categories that we have that we can swop,” Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya told Al Jazeera late on Nov 27.
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